45 Master Characters (33 page)

Everything is seen in the extreme with him. He constantly feels he is fighting for his very life. If his wife talks to another man he thinks she's going to leave him. He's driven to prove himself right in such cases but he often proves himself wrong instead.

Whether or not he realizes how foolish he has been, he still has trouble trusting others. Revenge can be an obsession.

He's driven to be somebody important.

How Do Other Characters See the Artist?

Some may see him as neurotic and as having no boundaries, while others may see him as passionate, spontaneous and alive, an unpredictable joy to be around.

He dresses in comfortable clothing that expresses his mood, and he usually lets his hair hang loose. He's the most expressive man at the party, waving his hands as he talks.

With one stare he can put another man in his place. His eyes speak volumes.

Developing the Character Arc

Look at your character's main goal in the story and then at the fears you've selected to use against him. What does he need to learn to help him overcome his fear? Does he need to learn the ways of the business world? Does he need to learn to control his fears of his wife leaving him? Does he need to get over a creative block? Does he need to learn how to interact with people? Does he need to give up his need to control others?

Very often the Artist needs to learn to distance himself from his initial feelings on a situation. He needs to react in proportion to the reality of the situation as it is, not as he imagines it to be. He needs to see his access to emotions as an asset that can help his artistic career and to recognize how he feels before his emotions get the better of him.

What happened to him at an early age to make this archetype dominate his personality? Was his father a rage-a-holic? Did a teacher criticize his creative work? Was he never able to grasp math and logical thinking? Did he love to play in nature and tell time by the sun?

To grow, this archetype is best paired with one of the following:

The Businessman —
can teach the Artist how to take care of and manage his own career and destiny. He can show him how to be organized and in control of his feelings.

The Woman's Man —
can show the artist how to be sexual and sensual. He can teach him how to love women and to find his feminine side. He can make the artist feel ashamed for the way he overreacts to events in his life.

The Seductive Muse —
can teach him how to get in touch with his body and how to feel pleasure and happiness instead of just pain. The love she instills in men can make him willing to change for her.

The Troubled Teen —
can turn his world upside down, leaving when he is on a rampage. She won't enable him to be emotionally abusive to her. She'll force him to look at his actions.

Assets:

• Loves to create and change things.
  

• Is spontaneous and instinctual.
  

• Could be a great creative artist.
  

• Is full of passion and intensity.
  

• Loves his family and friends despite how he acts around them.
  

• Will seek revenge for a harm done to him or his family.
  

• Is very street-smart as opposed to book smart.
  

Flaws:

• Expresses himself without regard to the feelings of others.
  

• Has trouble controlling his emotions.
  

• Invades other people's boundaries.
  

• Takes things to extremes.
  

• Is obsessive and relentless in his need for revenge.
  

• Imagines situations to be worse than they really are.
  

• Is self-centered.
  

When the Artist can't control his emotions he becomes a volatile and vindictive man. His sense of revenge is strong, and he'll never let it go until he feels satisfaction. It's as if his survival depends on an eye for an eye.